Protector
by Ecliptic Rain
Summary: Meral had powers greater than anyone had ever seen, but did she have the strength to put up with one assassin? Pure sap...not my usual style, so be warned.
1. Prologue

As usual, the normal "I dont own RO but i own the story" stuff.

And all characters (except Aka) belong to me. Aka blongs to a good friend of mine.

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**Prologue**

"Aka, are you sure you have to go?"

The crimson haired assassin smiled at her charge and ruffled her light brown hair.

"Don't worry Meral, you'll be fine without me."

With a pout on her lips, the acolyte shoved the other girl's hand away and glared at her.

"You can't leave me...you just can't!"

Aka sighed and placed her hands on the acolyte's shoulders, then looked into her amethyst tinted eyes.

"Look, I am neither your sister nor your mother. I'm your bodyguard. We shouldn't get too attached to each other."

"I don't care! Please Aka, don't leave!"

The assassin looked at the younger girl. What she was about to do wasn't easy, not in the least, and it was a last resort tactic she had hoped not to have to use. But desperate times always called for desperate measures, and Aka gave the girl an angry glare.

"I didn't want to tell you this, but you leave me no choice. Meral, the truth is, I don't want to be around you anymore. You're a whiney, self centered, spoiled little brat, and I've had about all I can take of you. I'm quitting as your bodyguard, and that's final!"

The tension left between the too was so thick it could be sliced with a knife. They both knew good and well that what the assassin had said was true, but that didn't make it any less painful. For one, Aka had grown to treasure the young girl in spite of her constant insolence, and Meral was pained to hear it in such a frank, outright manner from the person she cared most about.

"Good bye Meral. I'll leave first thing in the morning."


	2. Departure

**Chapter 1: Departure**

"Aka, my dear, I never thought you'd be so careless…"

"Oh shove it."

"Seriously now. I never thought you'd lose your will to guard her so quickly."

Aka sighed and looked down at her feet, then back up at the priest. His tone of voice wasn't the only thing making her feel uncomfortable. She really didn't care much for the scenery.

It wasn't that she hated the Pronteran sanctuary, she just didn't like it. It always felt wrong for her to be in such a sacred place, almost as if she were unworthy.

"Mathias…you know very well there was no other way."

"Was there really?"

Aka gave the priest an exasperated look and sighed again.

"She would have tried to get you to change your mind…besides, I don't want to put her in danger again. I almost got her killed last time."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I hired one of your guildmates to look after her."

Aka closed her eyes and smiled. All members of the Guards of Honor were specially trained for this line of work. She knew that any of them could handle Meral. All except one.

"Mat…who did you hire?"

The both looked up just as the door burst open, their gazes fixed on the lithe figure in front of them.

"Oh, hell no…"

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"Meral! Come here for a moment."

Meral dropped the end of the jump rope she was holding, then waved to the three children she was playing with.

"What is it Aka? I thought…"

She looked down, then back into the bright peridot eyes of her best friend.

"You…came to say good-bye? "

"Not Good-bye, just fare well."

"Oh..."

The acolyte brushed away a tear that threatened to roll down her cheek.

"Well then…fare thee well, Aka."

"Your new bodyguard is in the sanctuary with Father Mathias. You should go in there so you two can get acquainted."

The assassin walked off, trying her best not to show any emotion. Her pride got her as far as the southern gates of Prontera before she let herself cry.

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"So…you're telling me she's no ordinary acolyte?"

"Precisely. Her power has potential far greater than anything we've ever seen. I have great confidence hat she will become one of the greatest high priestesses to ever exist."

"So, why do you need me?"

The priest rubbed his chin, as if thinking of which words to choose.

"Well, many of the places where we prefer that she practice are too dangerous. We need someone to watch over her and protect her when things get out of hand."

The two looked up when they heard a knock on the thick wooden door.

"Who is it?"

"Father Mathias, it's me, Meral."

"Come in child."

The acolyte slowly pushed open the door, surprised when she saw her new bodyguard.

"You have got to be kidding."


	3. Anger

**Chapter 2: Anger**

"You can't be serious..."

Meral studied the being before her. Pale, steely eyes, snowy hair of the same hue, and a dark violet outfit that could only belong to an assassin.

A male assassin.

"Meral, I want you to meet Alister, your new bodyguard."

The acolyte slammed a hand on the priest's desk, making him jump in his chair. The fire raging in her eyes told him something that he already knew.

That he had made a huge mistake

"Father Mathias, how could you?"

Mathias cringed at the tone of the young girl's voice. He should have insisted that the guards of honor send a female.

"Meral...I'm sorry. There was no one else available."

"Then you should have kept Aka!"

The priest sighed and shook his head.

"Meral, please don't be so difficult. If I can trust Alister enough to ask him to be your bodyguard, then I'm sure you can too."

"Like hell I can!"

Meral turned and stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door extra hard on her way out.

The assassin chuckled at the look of terror on the priest's pale face.

"Quite an angel you got there."

"You don't know the half of it."

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"Meral! Hurry up so we can go!"

The brown haired girl waved her broomstick at the other acolytes.

"I'd like to see you guys try to sweep up the whole cloister in less than ten minutes."

"It's your own fault...you woke up late!"

Meral smiled and finished up her chores, then ran outside, just in time to catch the other acolytes as they were leaving.

"Wait for me guys!"

Just as she was about to go after them, she felt something grasp her wrist, preventing her from leaving.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

She tried to shake her arm away, but the assassin's grip was too strong.

"If you must know, I'm going to Orcville with my friends."

"Not without me, you're not."

The acolyte glared angrily at the assassin, her eyes like flaming shards of amethyst. Cold an unflinching, he gripped her wrist tighter and pulled her back towards the sanctuary.

"Besides, you're not allowed to go anywhere without first telling Father Mathias."

"Did I mention that I really don't like you?"

"The feeling is mutual, kid."

Try as she might, there was not much she could do, thus Meral was dragged back into the church to seek permission from a certain priest.


	4. Guardian

**Chapter 3: Guardian**

When they arrived in Orcville, Meral's friends had already left. They probably got bored and decided to go somewhere else, but not knowing where they were made it harder for her to track them down.

Therefore, Meral had only two choices. She could either ditch her so-called "bodyguard" and try to find her friends, or she could stay in the town of Orcs and train. But since the former seemed extremely improbable, her options were narrowed down to putting up with the aggravating assassin.

The young acolyte stayed near a dead tree, doing her best to learn the art of quick spell casting. Alister, on the other hand, had decided to stay in the shadows, where he occupied himself by conversing with some other fighters of advanced occupations, a rarity in the dungeons located below Orcville.

A yawn erupted from one of them, a knight with dark brown hair. He eyed the assassin, a hint of boredom showing.

"You never did tell us why you're here. Not to sound rude, but who's the kid you keep looking at?"

Alister turned his attention to the knight, then looked at Meral, who had now teamed up with another acolyte.

"I'm supposed to be her bodyguard for some reason. Supposedly, she has some kind of prophesized power."

"I'll tell you one thing, her healing technique is quite astonishing."

They all looked at the jade haired priestess, who blinked back at them in shock.

"What? Healing isn't easy you know. It can really take a lot out of you."

"And if that's any indication, I have a feeling this 'power' of hers will be more than legendary."

Five pairs of eyes, including a crusader that was with them, and his grand Peco, focused on the source of the voice, a wizard who seemed like he would rather be reading than babysitting two sword swingers and a giant bird with rainbow tail feathers.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I happen to know something about hidden powers."

"It's not that...it's just that you've been silent as a Sohee ever since we got here."

Suddenly, a loud shriek echoed through the dark caverns, causing the five to jump up, ready to fend off whatever had drawn such a terrible scream.

It didn't take long to determine the cause, for at the time that some of the weaker fighters ran back towards the entrance of the dungeon, one could see a large, juggernaut army or undead creatures pouring into the cavern from tunnels that lead into the heart of the caves.

"Oh hell...it's a mob."

"Kaywin! Go get everyone out of here, we'll stay and fight these clowns off."

The priestess glared at the knight, but was too worried about the younger adventurers that were too weak to escape the waves of zombies to care about the stupid nickname.

While the four others tried to safely herd the younger ones out of the cave, Alister searched desperately for Meral, but she was no where to be found. After a few moments of searching, he heard her desperate attempts to cast spells to protect herself, but they were all in vain. Using her futile efforts as a beacon to guide him, the assassin slashed his way through the throng of orcs, ancient blood staining his daggers and his hands.

By the time he had reached the acolyte, she was backed up against the wall, her energy spent from her vain efforts to fight her way through the mob.

"Meral! Are you alright?"

Looking up, the acolyte was more than a little relieved to see someone come to her rescue. She merely nodded weakly and slumped against the moss-covered stone walls of the dungeon.

Alister looked around, galled to see that they were completely surrounded. There would be no way the two of them could escape, therefore, he was left with only one option.

"Kid, do you think you have enough strength left to teleport yourself out of here?"

"I...I don't know..."

Seeing that the acolyte was still weak, he quickly lunged at the orcs that were closing in, his twin daggers slicing through rotting flesh, releasing the pungent smell of decay.

"Why..."

The assassin looked at the acolyte, who was struggling to speak. He tried his best to fend off their adversaries and listen at the same time.

"What is it, kid?"

"Alister...why are you protecting me?"

"Say what?"

"I...I thought you...didn't like me..."

Two more orcs fell at the edges of the assassin's deadly blades, yet none retreated.

"Can we talk about this later?"

By no fault of her own, Meral's voice had caused Alister's attention to be divided, thus making it harder for him to fend off the seemingly endless flood of zombies.

Red liquid dripped to the ground in a small puddle as the assassin skidded back towards the wall. One of the orcs had managed to slice a gash across his chest. The cut wasn't deep, but without proper treatment, infection was more than likely to set in.

"Damn..."

He looked at the acolyte, who had almost exhausted herself to unconsciousness.

He knew he had to guard her, no matter what. Even if he didn't make it through, he had to make sure she did.

He quickly turned and shielded the girl, his back to the approaching mob.

"I'm sorry..."


	5. Duty

**Chapter 4: Duty**

"Alister...what..."

The assassin pushed the girl closer to the wall, making certain that he protected her from the barrage of attacks that came from behind. He cringed in pain as half a dozen drainlairs attacked his back, their sharp teeth drawing blood. Occasionally, he would feel the blow of an orc zombie's ax. Luckily for him, however, the somewhat hefty undead monsters lacked the necessary strength to take him down.

Despite his willpower to stay conscious, he felt his life force wane with each time something struck him.

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why are...you protecting me?"

The assassin tried his best to remain awake, at least for long enough to answer his charge's question.

"Because...I'm your bodyguard...It...it's my job. Even if I...don't...like you...that much...I...have a...duty to...keep you safe..."

The assassin collapsed on the acolyte, his strength nearly depleted. If he could keep her safe, then maybe everything he sacrificed in the past wouldn't be in vain.

His mind drifted back to a painful memory of failure. He wanted to be sure that he never repeated the same mistake again.

Just as he began to feel himself slip away, something brought him back. He could feel his body come back to life, as if something were restoring him from within. He opened his eyes to see a faint glow emanating from somewhere nearby, shattering the obscurity of the cursed cave.

Fully alert, he reached up to feel the gash across his chest, only to find that it had miraculously closed up.

But there was something else.

Right in the middle of what used to be a gaping wound were four, slender fingers, fingers which were attached to a small hand. It didn't take him long to deduce that this tiny hand was the source of the sacred glow that had brought him back.

"Kid?"

The acolyte looked up and smiled weakly at the assassin.

"Alister...just as it's your duty to guard me, it's my obligation as a healer to help those in need, even you."

Steel and amethyst eyes met, an unspoken understanding reflecting within. They both knew what they had to do, even without exchanging words.

Gripping his daggers, Alister stood and turned to face the horde of undead, a fame of resolve flashing in his eyes. The swarm backed off an inch, but still decided that these intruders needed to be punished.

The assassin was anything but reckless as he slashed through the wall of undead, the decaying bodies piling up. There still seemed to be an unending supply of monsters, but still the assassin refused to give up.

There were, of course, some attacks that he couldn't avoid, but the acolyte behind him was ready to back him up.

From the other side of the swarm, they heard a mystic sounding chant, which was followed by a bone-chilling wind. The two braced themselves as shards of ice and debris swirled at incredible speed, giving both the assassin and Acolyte minor cuts.

The magical attack had taken a large chunk out of the undead army, leaving only a few to dispose of. The crusader hurled his shield, taking out the few that remained.

The two souls surveyed the aftermath of the Storm Gust attack, neither of them surprised to see that the cave was now shrouded in utter chaos. The corpses of bats and undead orcs were strewn everywhere, leaving very little ground to walk on.

Meral looked at the others, searching for the acolyte she had been training with earlier. She saw the girl peeking out from behind the knight, and waved. Seeing that everyone else seemed to be fine, including the priestess who was almost swooning over the wizard, Alister rested a hand on Meral's shoulder.

"I think we've had enough fun for one day. Shall we head home now?"

The acolyte nodded as the assassin handed her a deep blue stone.

"Just one problem."

"Huh?"

"I don't know how to cast warp portal."


	6. Trust

Yeah, sorry for such a late chapter...school and work leave me with little free time ;o;

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**Chapter 5: Trust**

Nightfall brought a very welcome darkness to Rune Midgard, especially for a certain member of the Guards of Honor.

Alister sat on one of the branches of the tall oak that resided in the center of the Pronteran cemetery. One might think that he, being an assassin, would feel right at home in a place like this, either that or he would be frightened as hell, considering that ghosts of murdered people often seek revenge. Strangely, the assassin felt neither, almost as if it were just like any other place in the capital city.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze fixed on a closed window on the second floor of the sanctuary. He was glad that he didn't have to stay in the sanctuary for the night, but he still felt he had to remain nearby.

The sound of a twig snapping broke him out of his self-imposed trance. Reaching for his dagger, he glanced downwards to see what was approaching, only to find that it was already scaling the tree.

He recognized the figure immediately, even though its choice of clothing, a heavy hooded cloak, wasn't what one might normally expect. He grasped the gloved hand of the mysterious creature and hoisted it up onto the limb upon which he was perched. Angrily, he pulled back the hood and was greeted by a pair of surprise filled eyes of deep violet.

"Just what do you think you're doing out here, kid?"

The acolyte knocked the assassin's arm away, nearly sending herself freefalling. She had Alister's quick reflexes to thank for her safety, as he had helped her to regain her balance.

"So you knew it was me."

"Of course I did. You're the only one in a fifty mile radius with feet that heavy. Now what are you doing out here?"

"Kinda strange for you to be asking me that, isn't it?"

"Hey, at least I'm not running around like some nightwalker."

The two sat there in silence for what seemed like several minutes before the quiet was broken by the acolyte's sigh.

"Thank you..."

"Pardon?"

"I said 'thank you for saving me.'"

Alister smirked at the girl, who had a slight bit of pink staining her cheeks.

"Wow, none of my charges have ever thanked me before...I'm touched!"

Meral wished so much that she could wipe that idiotic grin off his face. She really didn't need to, for in a few seconds he sobered up.

"You're serious, aren't you, kid?"

"Yes...and don't call me 'kid,' I'm almost seventeen."

"Well, you're still a kid to me."

"Why? How old are you?"

"You don't need to know that."

"Yes I do."

"No, you don't."

"Just tell me."

"No."

"Please? I'll shut up if you do."

"Tempting...but no."

The acolyte puffed out her cheeks, a look of annoyance on her face, kind of like a child who was about to throw a tantrum because her mother wouldn't buy her the poring doll she wanted so badly.

"Hey, I told you how old I am."

"I never asked though."

"It doesn't matter!"

Alister sighed. She was a persistent little brat, and he knew he would eventually lose. He never was any good at dealing with children.

"Alright, if you must know, I'll be turning twenty-three next spring."

"You're not that much older than me."

The assassin grinned and ruffled the girl's hair.

"Maybe not, but you're still a kid to me."

"Hey, cut it out!!!"

After a short battle of an acolyte trying to keep a joking assassin at bay, the two sat in silence for a few more moments. Something suddenly began to nag Alister, something he couldn't ignore.

"Why did you have to come out here just to thank me? Don't tell me Aka never risked her life for you."

"That's different, Aka's a woman."

"So you're saying that it's just because I'm a guy?"

"Kinda..."

"Kid, are you developing a crush on me or something? That's not healthy, you know."

"No!"

Meral looked down, her face completely red. How could he even dare asking her something as absurd as that?

Looking at him, it was obvious that he didn't believe her sudden outburst. Who would? After all, she was acting like a schoolgirl in puppy-love.

"It's nothing like that, alright? I...just have a hard time trusting males, that's all."

"But you trust me."

"Of course I do, you saved my life."

The snowy haired assassin cocked an eyebrow.

"Look Alister, don't read too much into it. I...I just don't trust anyone who can't prove themselves to be worthy of my trust."

Alister suddenly began to realize what she meant. He knew it was something that had nothing to do with love, and he hoped to Odin that his hunch was wrong.

"Someone hurt you in the past, didn't they?"

"Yes..."

"And it's not exactly something that you could easily forgive, huh?"

Meral nodded, a tear in her eye.

"I'm sorry Meral...I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories."

"No...it's alright. I'm tired of running from my past...from my fears."

Meral looked up at the assassin, her eyes filled with crystalline liquid.

"If you really want to tell me, I'm all ears."

"Thank you..."

The acolyte took a deep breath, trying her best to calm herself. Clasping her hands together, she began her story.


End file.
